Marching up and down the sidelines, clad in a shirt and tie rather than sporting a vest coated in sweat, Glasgow Rocks Sterling Davis screamed and waved to little effect as his side combusted at the Emirates Arena last night, the American’s retirement from playing in the summer now rendering him impotent to step onto the court and take a hands-on approach.
It was painful to watch, he admitted, with no punches pulled. Sheffield Sharks, previously winless in the early part of the new British Basketball League campaign, dished out a 90-62 drubbing to the hosts that poses questions to which Davis must swiftly find answers. At full strength for the first time with the belated debut of Canadian guard Jordan Clarke, Davis’ charges were cowered into submission.
Unable to claim a single offensive rebound until the contest was already lost, incapable to regroup when Sheffield ran off 13 consecutive points in a torrid three-minute burst in the second quarter, the Rocks – who languish in seventh place – need an urgent regeneration ahead of Friday’s trip to Newcastle Eagles in the quarter-finals of the BBL Cup.
“From the start, we let Sheffield get comfortable,” Davis said. “Offensively we were terrible. We couldn’t make shots but we didn’t execute. At half-time they had more offensive rebounds than we had total rebounds. We’ve got to do a better job there. It’s about effort. We knew the type of game it was going to be. They’re physical and we didn’t deal with it.”
41-27 in front at half-time, the Sharks – paced by 23 points and 19 rebounds from Antone Robinson – killed off the contest with a 9-2 run late in the third and their relentless hustle was rewarded as their cushion increased right to the finish.
Elsewhere, leaders Newcastle remained unbeaten with a 78-52 victory over Leeds Force and the reigning champions will surely coast into the last four of the Cup if Glasgow remain mired in such depths. “I hope this was a one-off,” Davis admitted. “We’re a much better defensive team than that but for whatever reason, we didn’t come ready to compete. Nothing fell for us and we got distracted. We’ll look at film and try to make the adjustments for Friday.”
Meanwhile, long-time Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders has died of cancer at the age of 60, the NBA team confirmed last night.
BBL. Glasgow Rocks 62 Sheffield Sharks 90, Newcastle Eagles 78 Leeds Force 52,
Cheshire Phoenix 72 London Lions 89
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